


Like in the Stories

by AkaUsa



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Betrayal, Denial of Feelings, F/F, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 19:48:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20784134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkaUsa/pseuds/AkaUsa
Summary: Maka compares life and books, people and tropes. But it's not always so easy.





	Like in the Stories

**Author's Note:**

> This was initially a translation of an old french fic, I tried translating it quite some time ago but ended-up unsatisfied with it. Founding it again recently, I thought it wasn't so bad, ended-up fixing some mistakes and adding more content to the text, so now it's more of a rewriting.

It's like an initiation story in which the young heroine must brave all the dangers put in front of her to reach the goal she gave herself and finish her quest. In Maka's case, it would be to obtain ninety-nine impure human souls and the one witch soul to make Soul evolve into a Death Scythe, surpassing her parents.

After all, exceeding their family's feats is often what makes a hero leave the state of childhood and mature into a full blown adult, to finish their journey. That would be why parents are so often missing in novels: to force the protagonists to move forward instead of counting on a reliable and familial adult figure to get everything done.

And so, many heroes end up being orphans. Thankfully, Maka thinks, it's not her case and her mother is simply far away. As for her father, she'd prefer to ignore him completly and act like he's not a father figure at all, although it's precisely because of their thorny relationship that she intends to make Soul into a better Death Scythe.

In this great quest to reach adulthood, many enemies will fight her but she'll also find allies. Those roles are for her classmates and teachers, some being main characters and others secondary in her own story.

The importance of secondary characters shouldn't be understimated. While they don't get their time in the spotlight as often as others, when they do, they can possess a particular charisma that enthrall the reader. Sometimes, less is more and the mysteries of the unknown will make secondary characters loved.

"Don't lose hope, this kind of hardships will make you stronger!"

Maka had blushed and nodded, comforted and smiling. After the incident against the Demon Blade, everyone had rushed to tell her she didn't need to worry about Soul and that it wasn't her fault, which didn't exactly stop Maka from feeling guilty or questioning her strength and choices.

It was not Lord Death, her father or doctor Stein that had first found how to reassure her about her abilities after this terrible defeat but Medusa, the secondary role of the kind and sweet nurse.

Her words were everything she needed to regain confidence. Maybe the nurse hadn't put much thought in her words and she probably didn't realise how much it meant to Maka when she heard them. However, it had been enough to soften her currently accumulating griefs, from the still recent divorce of her parents and the fiasco against Blair to this frightening encounter in the church with the mysterious meister.

And at this instant, Maka thinks that maybe, Medusa isn't as much of a secondary character as she felt before, that she could become someone important to her. That's another recurrent thing in initiation stories: they are full of twists and surprises.

* * *

It's like a mystery story in which the criminal is the one you expect the least.

Make listens, eyes widdened in shock, as doctor Stein talks about Medusa's true nature and the existence of a Kishin underneath the school.

While they're all dumbfounded by both revelations, only Maka questions the first one, repeating what her teacher just said as if she couldn't grasp the information. That Medusa, the kind nurse with the sweet smile was in reality a witch. Even thinking it seems ridiculous at first.

But they don't have the time to ask questions, Stein says they need to act now and asks them if they are ready to fight. His students' answer is obvious.

A few minutes later, they are facing Medusa, standing between them and their goal in her witch outfit, a harsh and confident smile on her lips. There is nothing left of the nurse they thought they knew. Maka looks at the clothes and remembers. She is the witch that took the Demon Blade's meister away, the feeling of her soul is the same, as terrifying as it was the first time they met, despite the surprise being gone.

The words the nurse said to her after Soul's injury replay in Maka's head like a broken radio tape, again and again. Buzzing. Don't lose hope, this kind of hardships will make you stronger.

"A lie! Simply a lie! And worse, it was actually her directing that meister in the church. She was only mocking me!"

Anger builds slowly in her chest with those thoughts. The bitterness reminds her of this feeling of treason and abandonment she felt after her parents divorce, though much weaker.

Stein explains their battle plan and Maka takes the time to regain her composure by remembering the lines of the first books they were given to learn at Shibusen.

"Medusa is a witch, it's a fact. A meister's goal is to fight witches and protect souls from being devoured. We need to win against her. Protect the school and the world."

Her teachers taught her to not let herself get troubled by the unexpected in a fight, even with twists as big as this one.

The culprit is demasked, the shouts of surprise made and the crime explained, they only need to arrest her now to close the last page of this detective novel.

* * *

"And with the help of her magical scythe, Maka saved Crona, the poor child of the wicked witch Medusa."

It could be like a fairytale, if it was that simple.

Except welcoming Crona in Shibusen was far from enough to free them from their mother's ghost. If Crona had talked to Lord Death about what Medusa was doing, things would have ended up very differently, but for reasons unknown to Maka, Crona wasn't able to do it. Maybe there had been threats, maybe it had only seemed the natural thing to do to follow their mother's words despite everything, maybe Medusa was like a God to Crona.

Maka should have talked, too. She knew that Medusa was still alive, had found it by accident but hadn't dared to tell anyone, from fear it would hurt Crona in return. Her doubts persisted until now, now that she finds herself in the empty cell that had once been Crona's room, looking at the sinister stone walls.

And it's too late, Medusa has already contacted Shibusen, letting them know that she's alive before Maka can do anything at all.

In fairytales for children, the heroes always win against evil but when Medusa is concerned, Maka feel like every little victory turns to ash in her mouth as soon as the witch appears.

* * *

It's the kind of adventure story with many sides in the conflict and characters who shift between them. With many betrayals too, some that you'd think maybe the hero should have noticed before it was too late.

Maka doesn't blame the hero, she wants to believe too. Wanted to.

It hurts, not only her bleeding wound but the inside of her heart, as if Medusa put a shard of glass inside and made it explode into tiny pieces. She knew she shouldn't have trusted her and yet she couldn't help wishing what she said was true, not only because it meant she could help Crona but also because she would have liked to think better of Medusa.

Because Medusa's strong and clever, she's powerful, knowledgeable and frankly incredible in many ways. Maka noticed that well as they moved and fought together on their way to destroy Arachnophobia, she let it enthrall her, let herself be inspired by her. And when Medusa rose in her dead sister's body, for a short moment, Maka was amazed by her to the point her heart was loudly beating in her chest.

So why does this incredible woman also has to be such a monster, a cruel and horrible being so devoid of empathy? Or maybe the opposite, how can such a terrible person also possess so many qualities Maka aspires to? She's not quite sure in which order she's supposed to put it.

The betrayal hurts, both physically and mentally, in ways she can't even comprehend.

* * *

It is certainly not a love story, that would be absolutely twisted, disturbing and wrong.

There isn't an ounce of the naivety and purity of an innocent first love in their relationship. Medusa is anything but virtuous and Maka's feelings towards her are bitter and angry. Her simple sight is hateful, she loathes every inch of her body, from her cold, thrilling eyes to the delicate lines of her ankles. The only way she longs to hold her is in order to strangle her thin, pretty neck.

It isn't the too many times told story of the nice girl trying to redeem the bad boy, for obvious reasons.

Maka knows Medusa can't be made into someone better anyway and she doesn't want to do that either. What does she wants to do, then? She has no idea, she only knows that this is a road without issues. And whatever feelings she is saddled with, sharing them with the concerned person to understand it better is absolutely out of the question.

Because it doesn't matter what Maka may think, the way her cheeks redden, her heartbeat accelerate or her thoughts drift away to dangerous places, it doesn't matter that her tears can't stop falling when the witch pierce her heart, again and again. It cannot be love. Not the great and true love of books and novels.

* * *

This is not going to be a story with a happy ending.

Of course, if she manages to win, if Shibusen can bring back peace on the world, then things will have turned out great. But the part of it that concerns Medusa, that links her to the witch despite how much she doesn't like it, won't feel good. Maka just knows it somehow, even if she kills her, the twisted and dark feelings Medusa created inside her won't disappear. They may fade, with time, but it will probably take years, if not decades.

But if she isn't the one to kill her, Maka feels like she's going to regret it even more. That it will haunts her forever, thinking of how she could have put a lid on this part of her life but didn't manage to. How so much pain could have been avoided if only Maka had been the one to end her life.

She tries not to think of the possibility that she'll be the one to die, those sharp arrows finally, actually piercing her heart at last.

After thinking for so long about it, Maka can only conclude that their story takes bits of thousands of books but is unlike any other she may have read. It is full of adventures, horror, twists and may yet end as a tragedy. Maka cannot use any of the story patterns she knows to try and find the perfect solution to all of her problems. After encountering so many characters, she still cannot put together the role under which Medusa should belong.

She can only wonder if all this will fall into oblivion after their death or if someone will put this story on paper to create one more book amongst many others.


End file.
